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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 11 Mar 2019, 20:09
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imaru
The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears; they overturn rocks to find them and consuming as many as 40,000 apiece in a single day.

A. bears; they overturn rocks to find them and consuming as many as
B. bears; overturning rocks to find the insects, consuming up to
C. bears, overturning rocks to find them and they consume as many as
D. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to
E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as
Show more

apart from pronoun error in choice D, another meaning error exist.

"and" in D show that we focus on two thing independent, moth is critical scource and bears overturn. this is not intended meaning. we forcus only on 1 thing- that the worm is critical source. the second adjective clause," which overturn" also help to make "worm is critical source" a focus though it modify "bears"

the takeaway is that
"and" can be used to change the focus of sentence from the focus on 1 action to the focus on 2 actions, and, a distored meaning appear.
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 17 Jun 2019, 00:38
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imaru
The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears; they overturn rocks to find them and consuming as many as 40,000 apiece in a single day.

A. bears; they overturn rocks to find them and consuming as many as
B. bears; overturning rocks to find the insects, consuming up to
C. bears, overturning rocks to find them and they consume as many as
D. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to
E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as
Show more

How can E be right, It is mentioning bears with 'which'. Bear is a noun, so term 'bear' has to be mentioned as a pronoun.
right??
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 18 Jun 2019, 01:18
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How can E be right, It is mentioning bears with 'which'. Bear is a noun, so term 'bear' has to be mentioned as a pronoun.
right??
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Which can be used to refer to animals.
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 29 Jun 2020, 05:10
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Shouldn't "consuming" modify the subject of the previous clause "army cutworm moth"?
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 29 Jun 2020, 13:28
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lakshya14
Shouldn't "consuming" modify the subject of the previous clause "army cutworm moth"?
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Hello, lakshya14. The subject of the previous clause is which, and since which is used to refer to bears, or more specifically to many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears, the meaning is perfectly clear:

Many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as 40,000 apiece in a single day.

Do not overlook a dependent clause when looking to apply your understanding of what an -ing phrase modifies.

- Andrew
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 29 Jun 2020, 14:11
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lakshya14
Shouldn't "consuming" modify the subject of the previous clause "army cutworm moth"?
Hello, lakshya14. The subject of the previous clause is which, and since which is used to refer to bears, or more specifically to many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears, the meaning is perfectly clear:

Many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as 40,000 apiece in a single day.

Do not overlook a dependent clause when looking to apply your understanding of what an -ing phrase modifies.

- Andrew
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But, if we were to ignore the appositive phrase, then the consuming would refer to the subject of the first clause "moths"? Which is wrong.
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 29 Jun 2020, 15:33
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lakshya14
Shouldn't "consuming" modify the subject of the previous clause "army cutworm moth"?
Hello, lakshya14. The subject of the previous clause is which, and since which is used to refer to bears, or more specifically to many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears, the meaning is perfectly clear:

Many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as 40,000 apiece in a single day.

Do not overlook a dependent clause when looking to apply your understanding of what an -ing phrase modifies.

- Andrew

But, if we were to ignore the appositive phrase, then the consuming would refer to the subject of the first clause "moths"? Which is wrong.
Show more
I think you might be getting your grammatical terms confused. There is no appositive phrase in the sentence we are examining. (In a sample sentence, Andrew, a tutor I crossed paths with on GMAT Club, helped me with a question, the appositive phrase begins with a tutor. If I rewrote the sentence as, Andrew, who is a tutor... I have swapped out the appositive phrase for a clause.) In the sentence in question, we have a relative pronoun in which, but it begins a dependent clause, not a phrase. Replacing which with the proper noun to which it refers makes it clear that the -ing phrase is modifying the bears, not the moths. I am having trouble understanding your issue with (E). It is free of any errors that disqualify the other options. Were you hoping to defend one of them, perhaps?

- Andrew
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 12 Aug 2020, 08:09
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Can which refer to animals...as which cannot modify people?
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 12 Aug 2020, 08:19
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Nilanjan Goswami
Can which refer to animals...as which cannot modify people?
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Hi Nilanjan Goswami,

Yes, which can be used to refer to animals.
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 01 Nov 2020, 23:55
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears; they overturn rocks to find them and consuming as many as 40,000 apiece in a single day.

A. bears; they overturn rocks to find them and consuming as many as
B. bears; overturning rocks to find the insects, consuming up to
C. bears, overturning rocks to find them and they consume as many as
D. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to
E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as
Show more

This question is based on Modifiers and Construction.

Option A lacks parallelism. The participle ‘consuming’ is not parallel to the verb ‘overturn’. The pronoun ‘them’ cannot refer to the singular antecedent “the army cutworm moth”. So, Option A can be eliminated.

In Option B, there is only a sentence fragment after the semi-colon. A semi-colon should be followed by an independent clause. So, Option B can also be eliminated.

Option C also lacks parallelism. The participle phrase ‘overturning rocks’ is not parallel to the clause “they consume….’. So, Option C can be eliminated.

In Option D, the pronoun ‘them’ cannot refer to “the army cutworm moth”. So, Option D can be eliminated.

Option E is very clear. The relative pronoun ‘which’ refers to “grizzly bears” as it is placed immediately after the noun. This option uses the word ‘insects’ to refer to the “moth”, so there is no pronoun reference error. Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 02 Aug 2022, 23:42
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D v/s E. Please review my understanding below


D. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to

''they'' refers to ''bears''. The only plural noun available in preceding clasue. ''Moth'' is singular. Still there is an ambiguity??


E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as

we have two modifiers : a RPC and an ing verbal separated by a comma. Both are modifying the same subject.

I am not sure is it normally acceptable?
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 04 Aug 2022, 05:48
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himanshu0123
D. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to

''they'' refers to ''bears''. The only plural noun available in preceding clasue. ''Moth'' is singular. Still there is an ambiguity??
Show more

The red pronoun is the issue. That pronoun clearly wants to stand for "moths" (plural), but "moth" is only present as a singular noun.

"And" is also used incorrectly here. The parts before and after "and" are not two parallel observations.


E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as

we have two modifiers : a RPC and an ing verbal separated by a comma. Both are modifying the same subject.[/quote]



"Which" describes the bears. That's the immediately preceding noun before the comma, so this modifier is fine.



Comma __ING has two requirements:
• It should modify the entire preceding clause;
• The subject of the preceding clause should be the person/thing most closely responsible for the __ING action.

Checking these two requirements:
• "Consuming as many as..." does, indeed, describe what the bears do as they're turning over rocks to find these insects.
• The subject of the preceding clause is "which", which represents the bears. Does "consuming..." describe something that the bears do? Yes it does.

Since COMMA _ING is doing both of its assigned jobs, it's fine.
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 05 Aug 2022, 03:46
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few follow-ups here, Ron :)

1. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to

In general when ''they'' and 'them' are two pronouns referring back to two different nouns. Is there a guiding principle that such a sentence is ambiguous even if logical antecedent is clear enough.


E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as

can we have two modifiers : a RPC and an ing verbal separated by a comma. Don't we need a 'and' here? Or there is no such guiding principle for modifiers?


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himanshu0123
D. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to

''they'' refers to ''bears''. The only plural noun available in preceding clasue. ''Moth'' is singular. Still there is an ambiguity??

The red pronoun is the issue. That pronoun clearly wants to stand for "moths" (plural), but "moth" is only present as a singular noun.

"And" is also used incorrectly here. The parts before and after "and" are not two parallel observations.


E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as

we have two modifiers : a RPC and an ing verbal separated by a comma. Both are modifying the same subject.
Show more



"Which" describes the bears. That's the immediately preceding noun before the comma, so this modifier is fine.



Comma __ING has two requirements:
• It should modify the entire preceding clause;
• The subject of the preceding clause should be the person/thing most closely responsible for the __ING action.

Checking these two requirements:
• "Consuming as many as..." does, indeed, describe what the bears do as they're turning over rocks to find these insects.
• The subject of the preceding clause is "which", which represents the bears. Does "consuming..." describe something that the bears do? Yes it does.

Since COMMA _ING is doing both of its assigned jobs, it's fine.[/quote]
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 05 Aug 2022, 04:36
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himanshu0123
few follow-ups here, Ron :)

1. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to

In general when ''they'' and 'them' are two pronouns referring back to two different nouns. Is there a guiding principle that such a sentence is ambiguous even if logical antecedent is clear enough.


E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as

can we have two modifiers : a RPC and an ing verbal separated by a comma. Don't we need a 'and' here? Or there is no such guiding principle for modifiers?


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himanshu0123
D. bears, and they overturn rocks to find them and consume up to

''they'' refers to ''bears''. The only plural noun available in preceding clasue. ''Moth'' is singular. Still there is an ambiguity??

The red pronoun is the issue. That pronoun clearly wants to stand for "moths" (plural), but "moth" is only present as a singular noun.

"And" is also used incorrectly here. The parts before and after "and" are not two parallel observations.


E. bears, which overturn rocks to find the insects, consuming as many as

we have two modifiers : a RPC and an ing verbal separated by a comma. Both are modifying the same subject.



"Which" describes the bears. That's the immediately preceding noun before the comma, so this modifier is fine.



Comma __ING has two requirements:
• It should modify the entire preceding clause;
• The subject of the preceding clause should be the person/thing most closely responsible for the __ING action.

Checking these two requirements:
• "Consuming as many as..." does, indeed, describe what the bears do as they're turning over rocks to find these insects.
• The subject of the preceding clause is "which", which represents the bears. Does "consuming..." describe something that the bears do? Yes it does.

Since COMMA _ING is doing both of its assigned jobs, it's fine.
Show more
[/quote]

Hello himanshu0123,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your queries, a pronoun and its derivatives can only refer to one noun in a given sentence, so the use of "them" in D is incorrect for two reasons - it does not have a logical, plural noun to refer to, and "them" cannot be used to refer to any noun but "bears" in this sentence.

Further, no "and" is needed between the modifiers in E.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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The army cutworm moth is a critical source of fat for many of Yellowst 19 Oct 2023, 02:13
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